Dodge for tradition’s sake: My first “car” was a ’72 W100 Power Wagon, locking Warne hubs, 225 slant, auto. I bought it in 1974 with proceeds from my summer construction job.

My second Dodge truck was a ’98 SS/T black over grey leather with stripe delete, 360 CID, SWB 2WD. A good customer of mine offered it to me for 10K in 2002 because the dealer’s trade-in offer was insulting.

I brought the cash to his house that night, and he was sitting in the dining room of his waterfront home with his older brother. We had a drink, I offered him the envelope, and he said, “Nah, let’s have some fun.”

He was a big gambler, and had his wife bring out a fresh deck of cards: “Let’s cut the deck, double or nothing.” I refused. His 70-year old brother (both drunk) whispered “Wussy.”

I just looked at both of them. This went back & forth. I was a “Wussy” about three times over. Then my guy says “OK OK, we can play Go Fish, best 3 out of 5.” And then he threw in the kicker, “If you lose you can work off the 10K on house repair.” Here was my chance:

I was a little drunk too, looked him in the eye and said, “One hand. Five-card draw: I win, I take the envelope and truck. You win, I take the truck, leave the envelope, and owe you 10K in construction work on your house.” We all agreed.

His brother counted the cards in the new deck, removed the jokers, and wished us both luck.

I drew two cards after the deal, and was left with a pair of nines. My customer drew two, said “Who dealt this crap? Looked at me, and asked whadya got?”

I lay down my pair, he looked at me, lay his cards face down, “Beats my crap.”

He shook my hand, and wished me luck with the new truck.

Gentlemen.

P.S. These guys were both multi-millionaires and my customer was a frequent gambler in Atlantic City for real high stakes. This game, for them, was just something to do after dinner. I never saw his cards, and it’s not something you really ask about. It was a good truck, and the 10K really helped me out.